22/08/2011

Sunday August 21, Warsaw, Poland~Dutch owner-trainer Diana Dorenberg enjoyed one of her biggest triumphs when her Purebred Arabian star Sartejano won his second Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup race in the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival and with it emerged as the champions of the Festival’s European series. The 4-year-old son of Dormane, a smart winner of the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup (Listed) race in Berlin last month touched peak form when he scored another emphatic win beating the 2010 HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival European champion Muqatil Al Khalidiah to third place. Muqatil Al Khalidiah was back to defend his title here after a record-breaking win at the Sluzewiec race course last year and did all the early running. A packed Sunday crowd, which had picked Muqatil Al Khalidiah and Dostatok as the favoured ones left Sartejano third in the betting ring but the promising colt proved otherwise. Once Deau approached the final turn in the 2600-metre race he asked Sartejano to make the move and soon the front-running Muqatil Al Khalidiah and Dostatok were left behind. Sartejano won by over eight lengths with Bachi Bouzouk in second place and the Saudi champion Muqatil Al Khalidiah in third. Apart from a major slice from the prize fund of Sunday’s Group 3 race, Sartejano also scooped the Euros 30,000 bonus and Diana, the winning owner-trainer said she was awaiting the trip to Abu Dhabi. “Now I will make a trip to Abu Dhabi for the Euro bonus prize distribution and I have long wanted to do so. I have heard so much about Abu Dhabi and the great tradition of Purebred Arabian racing there,” she said.

HE Asim Mirza Al Rahmah, the UAE Ambassador to Poland, HE Mutaz Al-Faheem, Charge d’Affaires along with Ms Lara Sawaya, Director of HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival gave away the trophies to the winning connections after the race. HE Asim Mirza said, “The UAE and Poland enjoy deep-rooted ties and this race will further strengthen those ties. I am happy that Poland will see more such races here next year including the HH Sheikha Fatma Bint Mubarak Ladies Fegentri Cup. That race will be a huge boost to lady jockeys and also help UAE lady jockeys to compete at the international level.” Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Communication Director of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) said, “Sunday’s race is one of the biggest in the Purebred Arabian race calendar’s in Poland and once again the large turnout and the quality of races have lifted the Festival.” Ms Sawaya said, “Today we saw Sartejano score a great win against a champion horse Muqatil Al Khalidiah. The success of the HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival is reflected in Sartejano’s win as the horse first took part in two Wathba Stud Farm Cup races and then went on to win the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan races in Berlin and Warsaw. That is the progress that the Festival is keen to keep achieving.”